Objective review SiteGround.com
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Price:
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Speed:
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Reliability:
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Support:
- 🎂 Founded: 2004
- 👨 Customers: 1700000
- 🌎 Servers Location: USA, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Singapore, North America
- 🖥️ Control panel: cPanel, SiteTools
- 📅 Free/Moneyback period: 30 days
Participants in ratings (the place occupied in the rating is indicated in brackets):
Countries: USA (45), United Kingdom (26), Netherlands (23), Singapore (20), North America (24). Disk type: SSD (39). Payment methods: Visa or MasterCard (41), PayPal (37). Control panel: Custom (12), cPanel (49). Domains: Free domain (28), SSL Certificate (48). Other: DDoS protection (30), Website builder (53), Reseller hosting (42). OS: Linux (61). Free trial: Moneyback (59). CMS: Joomla (31), WordPress (53), Drupal (40), vBulletin (17), Magento (36). Type of hosting: Cloud hosting (49), Shared hosting (57), Dedicated server (48), CDN services (25). Hosting for: Portfolio website (44), Blog (51), Corporate website (53), E-Commerce (46), Web-portal (40), Forum (46), E-mail (40). Hosting price: Price-quality ratio (35), Expensive hosting (36)Overview
First impression
Founded in 2004, Bulgaria-based web hosting provider SiteGround now describes itself as a 'holding of companies' registered in Bulgaria, USA, UK, Cyprus and Spain, and with offices and data centers around the world.
Unlike many competitors, SiteGround hasn't been bought by some shadowy mega-corporation, and it's not just a brand owned by someone else. SiteGround's founder is still CEO, and SiteGround's website says 'a considerable number' of its 500+ employees and top executives have been with the company for more than 10 years.
While some hosts don't talk about where or how it hosts your websites, SiteGround is very open. Its platform is on 'premium Google Cloud infrastructure', the website explains, for 'top reliability, security and speed.'
All SiteGround's shared web hosting packages include a free version of the popular Weebly website builder.
It's fun as a quick way to see what website builders can do. There are around 70 pre built site designs (attractive images, but nothing special design-wise), and you can customize these right away by dragging and dropping various content types onto the page: slideshows, maps, buttons, YouTube videos, contact forms and more.
They'll have a choice of website designs, pick one you like, then add any text, images, or other content you like. Editing can be as easy as dragging an image from this part of the page to another, and you can have an attractive web home ready to go with minimum effort.
Trial period
Siteground doesn't offer a free trial in any of their services though they do have a 30-day money back guarantee for all of their shared hosting plans and 14 days money back guarantee for cloud hosting plans. Their money back guarantee gives you peace of mind that their services will meet the expectations set out in the TOS.
Billing cycle
Prices start low at $3.99 a month on the annual plan, but leap to an above-average $14.99 on renewal. And there's no free domain, so factor in the price of registration (a .com domain is $17.99 at SiteGround, around $10 with some domain registrars).
In our example of Startup Plan, you can choose to pay for their hosting service with a Monthly, 12 Months and/or 24 Months billing cycle contract.
Control panel
The control panel for managing your website(s) is called Site Tools. Every client has Site Tools, where they can manage all sites they own or have access to. To manage a specific website in Site Tools, go to Websites, choose the preferred website and click on Site Tools.
Alternatively, you access Site Tools by typing tools.siteground.com in your browser and log in with the username and password of your SiteGround Client Area. You can view or change your SiteGround Client Area and Site Tools logins from the Login & Profile menu.
Limits
The Startup plan 'only' has 10GB storage, but that's enough for many (even long-standing WordPress sites often use under 1GB), and it piles on the feature elsewhere: unlimited bandwidth, automated daily backups, 1-click WordPress installs, automated WordPress migration, a free website builder, free SSL, unlimited databases, unlimited email accounts, spam filtering, and 24/7 support via live chat, telephone and ticket.
Upgrading gets you more web space, support for unlimited websites, on-demand backups, and staging, a great WordPress extra which allows you to test new website features before you put them online.
The top of the range plan gets you a greater share of server resources, accelerating your website speed, and priority support ensures your tickets or chat sessions get fast responses from the most experienced support agents. (It still only has 40GB storage, though.)
Security
As one of the best and most preferred hosting providers on the market, they know how important security is for their customers. This is why server security is one of their top priorities.
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is an encryption protocol that provides security for online transactions and sensitive information. Every reputable online business needs to have a valid SSL certificate to safeguard their clients’ security and brand’s credibility. These days, you can even get a valid SSL certificate for free thanks to the open Certificate Authority (CA) Let’s Encrypt.
OS
SiteGround does not use Windows servers. All servers are using Linux based (Fedora 31) and they are configured to work with both Apache and Nginx. All hosting solutions use Fedora. This is applicable for our Shared and Cloud servers.
Developing smart solutions in-house and adopting the latest speed and security technologies is their passion. They put their hearts into crafting tools and interfaces that make their client experience exceptional and they never stop innovating to bring you the best service possible.
Support
SiteGround offers 24/7 support via phone, live chat, ticket and its web knowledgebase.
A comprehensive set of tutorials provides lots of useful information on getting started with the service. There's general guidance on setting up your website, managing domains, creating email accounts and more.
You can also contact the support team via phone, live chat and (apparently) ticket, although the website makes this more difficult than usual. There's a Contact Us button, but this walks you through a support wizard which works hard to direct you to a support site article or website tool. It won't even display a chat button, phone number or anything else unless it thinks you're 'deserving.'
Conclusion
Pros | Cons |
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While many hosts try to win you over with low headline prices, SiteGround is far more interested in power. Its shared and cloud hosting plans may look expensive, but they give you plenty of features and functionality for your money, and could be a high performance choice for demanding users with high traffic or business-critical sites.
FAQ:
✅What payment types does SiteGround support?
SiteGround supports payments via card only.
❔Does SiteGround offer refunds?
SiteGround offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for its shared hosting plans and servers, dropping to 14 days for cloud hosting.
The policy has the same terms for monthly-billed plans, a welcome plus (GoDaddy only has a 48-hour refund period for subscriptions of less than a year). Renewal fees are mostly covered, too, good news when some providers exclude them entirely (GreenGeeks).
Some providers have longer refund periods - InMotion Hosting offers 90 days, HostGator 45 - but SiteGround's refund policy is more generous than many, and in the area we'd expect for a quality web host.
✴️Does SiteGround have an uptime guarantee?
SiteGround has a network uptime guarantee of 99.9%, which means it shouldn't be down for any more than 43.83 minutes a month.
The company offers very generous compensation if the network is down for longer. If you only have 99.9% to 99% uptime, for instance - so maybe just 44 minutes over a month - then SiteGround promises an additional 10% of monthly hosting credits. And you get another month of free hosting for every 1% of uptime lost. 97% uptime, for example, or a total 21.92 of down time over a month, gets you three months free hosting.
There are lots of exceptions. Scheduled and emergency maintenance (when resolved in an hour) isn't covered, for instance. Fallout from hacker attacks isn't covered, either, and the company doesn't count downtime from 'events outside our control', either.
Still, this is a far better guarantee than we usually see. GoDaddy's uptime guarantee is capped at a maximum 5% of your hosting fees, for instance, so even if your site is down for 15 days in a month, you'll only be credited with 1.5 days hosting.
Plans
StartUp | GrowBig | GoGeek | |
Price |
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DDoS Protection | - | - | - |
Websites | 1 pcs | ∞ | ∞ |
Database | ∞ | ∞ | ∞ |
Disk Space | 10 Gb | 20 Gb | 40 Gb |
Platform | - | - | - |
Control panel | - | - | - |
Details | Details | Details |
Jump Start | Business | Business Plus | Super Power | |
Price |
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Memory (RAM) | 8 Gb | 12 Gb | 16 Gb | 20 Gb |
DDoS Protection | - | - | - | - |
Disk Space | 40 Gb | 80 Gb | 120 Gb | 160 Gb |
Platform | - | - | - | - |
Control panel | - | - | - | - |
CPU | - | - | - | - |
CPU Cores | 4 pcs | 8 pcs | 12 pcs | 16 pcs |
Details | Details | Details | Details |
Contacts
- Address: SiteGround.com Inc. 901 N Pitt St Ste 325 Alexandria VA 22314
- E-mail: reviews@siteground.com
- All
- General impression
- Support
- Reliability
- Price
- Website performance
- Website interface
- Control panel
- Livechat
- Payment process
- Security
Reviews (20)
- Sorting
Thanks for being our customer for 2 years. We appreciate your high evaluation for the quality of our hosting.
Regarding the price of our service, we aim to constantly provide value to our customers and include new features and tools to the service without charging extra for them. To give you a few recent examples, since March we have Quic on our servers, the newest protocol that makes possible for websites to load fast even with a slow internet connection. Also, for our 15th anniversary we have added backup and staging features to our lower shared hosting plans and improved the support for GoGeek and higher plans.
We would like to clarify that refunds are available for our shared hosting plans and within 30 days of your purchase you can get your money back. In our terms of service, we provide full details on our refund policy and our customers can check them prior to signing up.
Regards,
SiteGround Team
The renewal is on our regular prices and we would like to remind you that we offer a discount of up to 30% if you choose a longer period to renew your account.
We value our existing customers and we constantly work to improve the service by adding new features and tools without charging additionally for them. To give you a few recent examples, since March we made available Quic on our servers, the newest protocol that makes possible for websites to load fast even with a slow internet connection. Also, for our 15th anniversary, we have added free restore to the StartUp, additional backup option and staging features to the GrowBig plans and improved the support for GoGeek and higher plans.
Regards,
SiteGround Team
The pricing is somewhat high but I always advice buy for 3 years as that is way cheaper than the monthly plan put altogether.
They also do not offer free domain.
+ I contacted support a few times and I solved what I needed so huge thumbs up for that.
- The only reason I told the client to move from their hosting was the PRICE is a bit higher than one that I'm using.
SItegrounds support team is absolutely amazing and always happy to help. They are quick to respond and have the brains to solve virtually any problem you might face.
Every client I have that uses SIteground loves them, and for good reason. Their servers are fast, secure, and reliable. Nearly all of my client sites average page loads of 1.5 seconds or less. None of my Siteground hosted clients have ever been hacked. And downtimes are very rare indeed.
If you want a good relaible host, Siteground is an excellent option. My only complaint is with the price. While I do feel that they are worthwhat they charge, you can spend just a few bucks more for a great managed WordPress host.
Cons of them i can say are the high price, limited data storage, strict data over-usage policy, setting up backups can be complicated. But overal one of the best hostings to host your WordPress site. i can highly recommend it.
Many factors could contribute to the load speed. Aside from the various features, you can use to improve your load time (SG Optimizer plugin, SuperCacher service, CDN), you can also check our WordPress optimization tutorials and a free ebook. Our Support Team could also look into the matter, as we are available 24/7 via phone, chat or tickets.
In regards to the hosting price, our goal is to offer high-quality hosting at a reasonable price. We continuously add new tools and features to our plans, and upgrade regularly our technology, without increasing the monthly fee for existing customers. That is why we do believe we provide excellent hosting value at a fair price. We also offer renewal prices of up to 30% discount.
Moreover, if you opt for monthly billing, be prepared to fork out a one-time setup fee of $14.95. Did I mention that there's no free domain? Yes, unlike other hosting companies that offer a free domain for the first year, you'll have to part with $15.95 for annual domain renewal from day one.
Regarding our price policy, we provide promotional prices to all our new customers, so that they could test the hosting service with a lower risk investment. This is clearly stated on our sales pages where we display both the promotional and the regular prices next to each other. The one-time setup fee is applied only to the 1-month plan and is listed on the order page. Nothing about our prices is hidden so that the user cannot see it before deciding to purchase.
Indeed, domain name registrations are not included for free in our hosting plans. It is a business decision and some hosts choose to add it, while many others don’t. We have seen that many of our clients in the last few years already own a domain and are not taking advantage of the free domain registration that was part of the package so we removed that benefit and added many other interesting freebies :)
All shared and cloud plans include free CloudFlare service. We do offer a CloudFlare Plus plan as well, which is a billable service. While both plans ensure better loading speed, improved security, and cache controls, the paid one also allows you to use the web application firewall, image optimization and advanced speed features. Most clients find the free plan adequate for their needs, but still, there is a choice for those who need WAF and more.
They have the most popular Cpanel which makes managing your site a breeze.
I will recommend Hosting platforms such as Wordpress, Joomla or similar light-weight cms but I would probably not take my chances hosting something heavier like Magento site on their shared plans (even on GoGeek ).
Their support is where they shine and its WHY they are among the best in the market. Fast response, knowledgable support team and patient.
The prices seem ok if you are paying the special prices( promo ones ) but once your promo period is over you back to their regular prices which seem a bit high. My recoomendation is to get your hosting for as long as possible in order to take advantage from their promo prices.
What I didn't like about SiteGround is the user dashboard, which I feel isn't made to be easy to use.
SiteGround is the one you choose if you want to start your next online business.
We understand that initially, users might find our new UserArea confusing due to the different logic behind it. Still, we believe this upgrade will be beneficial for you, as it allows us to easily introduce more value-added services to our hosting plans.
I quickly start live chat and my problem being solved. if somebody is non techie it is best place where support will help you. Prices are Comparatively High i and i would not strongly recommend if someone looking for Cheap hosting.
I switched the client due to support problems and the cost, we paid almost $600 a month for a half-decent server. We got a new server for a lower cost AND 5X the resources and specs. I couldn't justify staying with SiteGround with lower resources and higher prices. After using them for about two years I would not host with them again after that experience.
We highly recommend not to purchase the cheapest hosting package. Usually, they come with a row of issues: the server is often down, the hardware is outdated, lousy and slow support, registration and payment errors, etc.
For your convenience, we have created a tool that can help you to choose the right hosting package for you just by answering a few simple questions.
CMS is a content management system. A lot of hosting providers offer so-called CMS optimized packages. However, this is a marketing trick because most CMSs do not have special software or hosting requirements.
Trial period is a period of time, usually from 7 to 30 days, during which you can use the hosting services for free to test them.
Moneyback policy allows the customer to receive a refund for his order within a certain period after the purchase.
OS means the operating system is installed on the server. We recommend to choose Linux hosting unless your website requires another OS.
Bulletproof hosting - it’s a type of service that allows to host almost any type of content, even the restricted one (adult content, warez, spam etc). Bulletproof hosting providers do not remove your content in case someone reports an abuse.
Unlimited hosting - refers to companies that provide packages with unlimited disk space, bandwidth, number of domains, databases or email accounts, etc. This is usually a marketing trick but sometimes you can find something worth a try.
Secure hosting - it’s a type of service when the hosting provider is mostly responsible for the security of the user’s account: updates the software installed on their servers, provides an antivirus and malware scanner, firewalls and basic anti-DDoS protection, etc.
DDoS-protected hosting - companies that provide packages that include anti-DDoS protection. These packages are considerably more expensive than regular ones. Nevertheless, they’re totally worth their price because the company will ensure that your website is secured from cyber attacks.
Most websites require MySQL and PHP installed on the server to work correctly. Almost all hosting providers support these technologies.
ASP.NET is a Microsoft web application development platform.
The more comfortable the control panel is, the easier will it be for you to change the website and hosting account settings.
Most hosting providers that are in TOP20 in our rating offer user-friendly control panels, such as cPanel, Plesk or DirectAdmin. That’s why we recommend to pay attention to other, more important parameters, while choosing a hosting provider.